


Waiting

by Ailu_Citrino



Series: Of Kittens and Lightning Bolts [3]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), Batman - All Media Types, DCU, The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Barry is there but not really, Coma, Gen, Medical Inaccuracies, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Platonic Male/Male Relationships, he's in the coma for the whole fic, in this house we ignore canon completely
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 09:41:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29434029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ailu_Citrino/pseuds/Ailu_Citrino
Summary: "Iris?" There was a pause. It was strange, Jason had never formally met Iris West, but as Barry's other best friend, he'd heard a lot about her, and from what he knew, she was not the type to hesitate so much "Is everything alright? Where's Barry?""Jason" This time she said his name like it hurt, Jason's heart sped up "Barry got struck by lightning, dad is driving with him to the hospital"For Barry Allen, the time between the lightning bolt and waking up to a new life was a moment, but for the people in his life, there were nine months of uncertainty and fear; time moved on, relationships developed, friendships formed, and they waited.
Relationships: Barry Allen & Felicity Smoak, Barry Allen & Iris West, Barry Allen & Iris West & Jason Todd, Barry Allen & Jason Todd, Barry Allen & Joe West, Barry Allen & Oliver Queen, Barry Allen & Selina Kyle, Eddie Thawne/Iris West, Eventually - Relationship, Iris West & Jason Todd
Series: Of Kittens and Lightning Bolts [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2029429
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18





	Waiting

**Author's Note:**

> First of all, the last piece of batman related media I consumed was Batman Ninja like, two years ago, so my characterization is absolutely from what I can remember from that and when I read comics, and fanfic. Second, this AU is so diferent that most of the events that happened in canon gotham just don't exist, because it doesn'm make sense, so we're going to... ignore that... hope you like this anyways

The night was quiet when Jason's phone started ringing. He glanced at the caller ID before answering, but there wasn't really any need, everyone else who might want to contact him wouldn't be calling his personal number.

"Hey Bar, heard about the accelerator, how are you doing?"

"Jason?" The voice was very obviously not Barry's. It was familiar, femenine, way more hesitant than he'd ever heard when she chimed in from the other side of the receiver in the middle of a call.

"Iris?" There was a pause. It was strange, Jason had never formally met Iris West, but as Barry's other best friend, he'd heard a lot about her, and from what he knew, she was not the type to hesitate so much "Is everything alright? Where's Barry?"

"Jason" This time she said his name like it hurt, Jason's heart sped up "Barry got struck by lightning, dad is driving with him to the hospital"

"Where are you?" He couldn't help it, his mind was in what they liked to call _bat mode_ , that mindspace they got into during missions and patrol, where they left their personal concerns on the side to fight crime because sometimes, in a mission on a circus, or an orphaned child in a hit and run, or a woman overdosed on her kitchen, if you didn't do it you'd _break_.

"I'm at the precinct, one of the detectives is going to give me a ride to the hospital. It happened in his lab, you know, the lightning strike, and we were only here because we missed the accelerator thing being turned on. Not that it helped much, but still, a guy stole my bag, and Barry went after him, so when Detective Pretty Boy, I mean, Detective Thawne, got him, we had to come back to give our statements" She was rambling, every word coming faster than the one before, her breathing picked up pace and she sounded like she was going to start crying any second now

"Iris" she kept going "Iris!" Silence, he lowered his voice to something a bit more soothing "Iris, I need you to breathe, yeah? Can you do that?" There was a little sound from the other side, but her breathing was still erratic "Iris, come on, breathe with me. In. Out. In. Out." He kept like that for a few more minutes.

"Thanks" she sounded small. There were a few seconds of silence before she confessed "I don't even know why I called you. Barry's phone was on the table, and he had a few messages from you and I just" she trailed off, he tried to remember if he'd said anything incriminating. "I think I wanted to talk to someone" she admitted. He let the silence stretch.

"Alright, this is what we're going to do" his sudden change in tone startled her, if he hadn't been trying to hold himself together he'd have laughed at the little yelp she let out "You're gonna give me your number, and keep me updated, you can text me whenever, it's fine, especially if you need to talk to someone, and _I_ am going to Central"

"Right now?" Was her only answer, which meant she was either too stunned to argue, or she was ok with it. Jason was betting on the second.

"Well, no, because it's the middle of the night, but I'm absolutely leaving tomorrow morning"

"He might have woken up by then"

"Then I'll just have to punch him for making me worry" they kept talking like that, joking until a voice in the background told Iris to go.

"That's my ride, I'll send you a text when I get to the hospital" she was silent for a second "I think this is the first actual conversation we've ever had" he thought about it, most of the time they had been shouting from besides Barry while he talked to the other, or they stole Barry's phone for a few seconds to send a picture or a video, but they had never stopped and talked.

"You're right" then he realized "Did anyone tell Selina what happened?" Iris was quiet

"I think my dad said he'd call her?" Jason grimaced. He had nothing against detective West, but he tended to disregard Selina’s opinions where Barry was concerned. He understood that West had practically raised Barry, but Selina was still his aunt, and it had been only because of her respect of Barry’s wishes, and her absolute terror of her nephew running away and involving himself with the bats that had made her allow Barry to stay in Central living with West and Iris. Besides, Jason had heard enough stories about the time Barry had broken his arm, or the time he ended up in the hospital for an asthma attack when he was twelve, or other situations where Joe West had decided that the issue would be resolved shortly, and thus, there was no need to bother Selina about it, especially when she _was all the way to Gotham and wouldn't be able to be there in time anyways_. Selina still had some choice words to say about it any time someone reminded her of it, some of them not even Jason had heard before during his time in the streets.

"I'll call her" he decided. 

They said their goodbyes, the Detective on the other side getting impatient with Iris for the delay, so she promised to send him a text when she got to the hospital, wished him a good night, and hung up. Jason looked absent mindedly across the rooftops while he pocketed his phone and raised his finger to his ear "Oracle, you there?"

"Here" the answer was immediate, she didn't even pretend, there was no point, privacy hardly existed with Barbara, and he trusted her to not tell anyone what she knew. "You want me to assign your patrol to Black Bat? She'll be staying in Gotham for a few weeks, and Batgirl doesn't really need the backup in Chinatown"

"Yeah, thanks"

"You're leaving right now, aren't you?" He didn't bother with an answer. He had told Iris he would wait until the morning because it was late, but the truth was that even if he went to sleep right away, there was no way he would arrive in Central until the day after, and besides, he was sure it was late for her, but his patrol hadn't even officially started yet, he had just headed out to wait for Barry's call. "You should take Nightwing with you" he made a noise of protest, the last thing he needed when he was worried was having _Dick_ stuck with him for nineteen hours, he would be _concerned_. "Hood, I'm serious, if you're planning on driving all night, it'd be better if you had someone to switch with. Besides," she sounded amused "he's the only one who has a normal car"

He thought about the overpriced cars in Bruce Wayne's garage, the ones that were more for show than long distance trips, and the sleek lines of the Batmobile in the cave, in what had to be the least inconspicuous ride in the world, and had to agree that she had a point "Alright, but if he's not ready in half an hour, I'm going alone" he thought for a second "And I'm stealing his car"

"Sure thing, Hood" the comm cracked a moment and then became silent again. Jason stood there for a few more seconds, listening to the sounds of the city and the Alley, and then headed back to the manor. He had a call to make.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed this, if you want to contact me for whatever reason, you can find me on tomblr as [ailu-citrino](https://ailu-citrino.tumblr.com/)


End file.
